Strength of a Shinobi
by Mira-chan92
Summary: Who knew a simple walk around Konoha would bring back so many memories, and lead to such a realization? All about Sakura, hints at SasuSaku, and Sakura and Naruto's friendship. A oneshot I suppose. May add more later.


Ok, so this is my first stab at writing a fanfiction. It's not really a fanfic either, just a sort of random story thing. Mostly this is Sakura taking a walk around Konoha and remembering some things, and realizing others. Please don't flame.

Its SasuSaku, with an emphasis on Sakura and Naruto's friendship.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, no one would watch it, or read it, because it would be terrible. Now aren't you glad it belongs to Kishimoto-sama? I know I am!

"My name is Haruno Sakura, and I am strong."

She whispers the words quietly to the mirror, the faint light of dawn seeping in to her small bedroom. She smiles softly at the promise of the new day, scanning her appearance in the mirror before her. A slim, agile young woman stares confidently back, tying the hitai-ate around her head. Her bright, spring green eyes return her analytical stare, full with determination, confidence, and the shadow of betrayal. So very different from the eyes that had returned the same analyzing gaze so many years ago.

_A young girl, no more than twelve years old, winked at her reflection. Her playful green eyes held hope, cockiness, and a cheerful determinedness as she posed before her reflection, fixing her long, silky pinky hair. It was well past dawn, if she didn't hurry, she could be LATE, as her mother felt inclined to remind her, yet again. She hurried off toward the academy. Today would be it, the day she captured Sasuke-kun's heart! _

The jaded green eyes blink away the memory as her lips curve into a cynical smile. She had been so young then. She glances at out of her window and, seeing it was still barely dawn, took her kunai pouch, strapping it to her leg. Silently and stealthily she slips out of her apartment, making her way toward the training grounds.

She walks quickly through the streets of the familiar town, a memory awakening with each step.

Soon, she passes over a small red bridge, pausing to look back, the fleeting image of two angry boys staring each other down rising to the top of her consciousness. She smiles again, faintly, almost sadly, and continues on her way.

As she passes by the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, the already pitifully small smile on her face falters before disappearing entirely. A flood of memories consume her, as she recalls her lovably stupid friend, gone now, training with Jiraiya-sama, the legendary saanin.

"_My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" "ehehehe…" "I'm going to become the greatest, strongest Hokage ever!" "I love ramen!" "Sasuke-teme!" "Aaah, Sakura-chan!" "Dattebayo!" "I'll make everyone in the village recognize my existence!"_

She stands now in the middle of the street, amid the soft rustle of morning businesses preparing for the day. As she stares at the curtain of the stand, she can almost hear the blonde boy's boisterous, determined voice. She can hear other voices as well, and the memories overwhelm her. She walks quickly away from the stand, rushing down the road. Blinded by the past, she has no destination; instead she forces herself forward, and away from the memories.

It was a bad idea to stumble along blindly as she did. She comes to a crashing halt before an innocent stone bench, and the memories resurface.

She had been living in the past that day as well.

_The tears spilled down her cheeks. _

"_Do you remember the day we became Genin, and when our three-member team was first chosen? The day you and I were here alone. You got mad at me, remember?"_

"_I don't remember" he said. _

"_Makes sense. That's something that happened a while back. That's when it all started. You and I, even Naruto and Kakashi-sensei." She had thought then, of how much she had loved being a team, and how now, it would all be a part of the past.  
"It won't make anyone happy. Neither you…nor I."_

"_I walk a different path from you guys." He told her. His heart, he said, had decided on revenge in the end. _

"_Are you choosing to be alone again?! On that day you taught me that solitude is painful! I understand so well right now. I have a family, and I have friends, but if you are gone…..to me, that will be the same as being alone!"_

_She said anything then, everything she could think of, everything she felt. _

"_You really ARE annoying."_

"_Don't leave! If you try to leave…I'll scream!" Desperate, she was so desperate to keep him here. _

"_Sakura….. Thank you."_

_He was gone. _

She stands, staring off down the road. There is no one there, but in the ghostly pale light of the morning, she watches it unfold again, as she has so many times in her mind and in her dreams.

"_Naruto, this is the only favor I will ever ask of you. Bring...bring Sasuke-kun back. I couldn't convince him, I couldn't stop him. The only person who can stop him, the only person who can save him is you Naruto…only you!"_

"_You really love him huh? I can understand very well the pain that you are going through._

"_Naruto...thank you!"_

"_I will bring Sasuke back for sure! This is the promise of a lifetime!"_

She gazes blankly at the gate to the village of Konoha, her home. She feels a tear slowly make its way down her cheek and wonders if it is the first she's shed today. She hadn't understood then what Naruto had meant. She knew now. How many times had she done to him, said to him, what Sasuke has said to her? How many times had she dismissed him as annoying, as inferior, as stupid or weak? And yet, he had always been willing to protect her, to support her, to help her. When he returns, she promises herself, I will be strong enough to help him, to support him. I will be a better friend than I had been.

She had told Sasuke that she understood solitude. No knowledge she had then prepared her for waking up on that bench, cold, and alone. He had left her there, and he was gone. Again, she had not been strong enough to protect those she loves, she had not been strong enough to keep him by her side.

She remembers the conversation again; Sasuke had told her he didn't remember that day. But his words had said other wise.

"_You're annoying."_

"_You really ARE annoying."_

And he had never said goodbye.

Naruto hadn't succeeded. Sasuke had joined Orochimaru.

Sakura felt then that she truly, truly knew the meaning of solitude. With Sasuke gone, she was completely alone.

It wasn't until Naruto had left that she had realized that it could be worse.

Now, standing completely alone before the gates of Konoha, she knew the meaning of solitude. Team Seven was scattered, possibly forever.

She knew its terrible pain; she knew the heart-wrenching power of memories of better times.

But she still can't understand why he had chosen it again.

And so, because he had remembered the beginning, because he hadn't said goodbye, because he hadn't killed Naruto at the waterfall, there was one thing left to believe. Or rather, one thing that she would allow herself to believe;

He would return.

"_That is my path."_

"_That is my nindo, my ninja way!"_

They were two statements, just like the people who had spoken them; different, and yet completely the same.

"I will become strong, and when you return, when you BOTH return, I will repair Team Seven, and make it what it could have been. What it could have been, if I hadn't been weak, and blind. I could not see your pain until it was too late Sasuke-kun, and I could not understand the solitude the two of you had felt. But I know it all too well now, and when you return, we will be the team we were, the team we could have become."

She says the words softly to the bright, early morning sun as she sets out for the training grounds again. The journey awakens more memories, but she smiles with a familiar, cheerful determination, and smirks at their attempts to drag her into a remorseful, pitiful solitude. The strength of a dream, of a friend, and of her love give her the power to continue.

"I will become strong, strong enough to reunite and protect Team 7. That is my path, my nindo, my ninja way."


End file.
